4/20 – 4/26 Brewers Week In Review

April 27, 2015

Mike McGinnis/Getty Images

The Brewers continue with their franchise worst start by losing 5 more games this week. On the bright side, they won 2 games this week. The Brewers 2 suffered more injuries to key players. They had a couple of games where the bats came alive, but they remain near the bottom of most offensive categories.

The injuries started on Sunday night. Scooter Gennett had a run-in with something in the shower and ended up with stitches in his hand. He was placed on the 15-day disabled list, joining Carlos Gomez. The Brewers called up Elian Herrera to replace him.

The week started off with a 6-1 loss against Cincinnati to open a four game series at Miller Park. Those 6 runs were the most the Reds have scored all season. Ryan Braun hit his first home run of the season in the ninth, but that was about as good as it got for the Brew Crew. Jonathan Lucroy took a foul tip off of his toe and came out of the game the following inning. It turned out that Lucroy had broken his left big toe and will be out 4-6 weeks. Juan Centeno has been called up to replace Lucroy.

Braun’s home run was number 231, moving him ahead of Prince Fielder in to second place on the Brewers’ all time home run list. Robin Yount is still the leader with 251 home runs in a Brewer uniform.

The bats came alive in game 2. Martin Maldonado hit a 2-run home run and Elian Hernandez hit a grand slam as the Brewers scored a season high 10 runs. Unfortunately, the Reds had 5 home runs, 2 of them were grand slams, and scored 16 runs, 10 more than their previous season high set the night before.

Wednesday’s match up was a pitcher’s duel between Jimmy Nelson and Johnny Cueto. Nelson went 8 strong innings, striking out 5 and walking 2. Francisco Rodriguez came in to a 1-1 tie in the ninth. Billy Hamilton worked a one out walk and went to third on a Joey Votto single. After Todd Frazier popped out in foul territory, K-Rod unleashed a 55 foot changeup that got past Martin Maldonado that allowed Hamilton to score the winning run.

The Brewers finally got back in to the win column on Thursday, snapping an 8 game losing streak. Adam Lind and Aramis Ramirez each hit a home run and Jean Segura broke a 2-2 tie in the seventh with an RBI single. Braun stole third and came home on a throwing error for an insurance run. K-Rod came on in the ninth and recorded his 350th career save. Maldonado threw out Hamilton trying to steal second, making it the first time all year that a Reds’ base runner was caught stealing.

The Cardinals came in to Miller park on Friday to open a 3 game series. Jason Heyward and Jhonny Peralta each hit home runs and Carlos Martinez pitched 7 scoreless innings as the Cardinals won 3-0. Matt Garza went 6 innings and only allowed 1 run. Unfortunately, the Brewers offense again came up empty, getting shut out for the third time this season.

The Brewers entered the game with an 18 inning scoreless streak against the Cardinals. Kolton Wong hit an RBI triple and scored on a throwing error in the second and Matt Holiday hit a 3-run home run in the seventh, giving the Cards a 5-0 lead. The Brewers rallied to score 3 in the eighth to end the scoreless streak at 25 innings, but it was not enough.

Braun and Ramirez both requested the day off on Sunday, so the Brewers sported a lineup that consisted of 5 players that were not in the Opening Day starting lineup just 20 days ago. Even without their sluggers, the Brewers powered their way to a 6-3 victory. Lind hit a 2-run home run, Gerardo Parra hit an RBI triple, and Khris Davis and Herrera each added an RBI double.

The Brewers have had a terrible three weeks to open the season and the numbers back that up. They are among the worst five in the National League in the following categories: batting average, home runs, RBIs, stolen bases, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, strikeouts (hitting), walks (hitting), ERA, wins, saves, WHIP, opponent batting average, home runs allowed, errors, and fielding percentage. The only major categories that they are not in the bottom 5 are pitching strikeouts (6th worst) and pitching walks (9th worst). Add that to some pretty bad base running errors, and you have the formula for a really bad team. Their 4-15 record is by far the worst in the National League and has them 9 games behind the Cardinals.

Search

The Clubhouse

Check out The Clubhouse!

There is a new item on the menu above that takes you to The Clubhouse. This is where any of my posts about what position a player should play, what they should be focusing on, or general baseball knowledge can be found.

If there is a topic that you would like to see in The Clubhouse, feel free to leave a comment or send a Tweet my way (@djweller72).